While in the car today I was listening to a Fritz Wunderlich CD entitled O sole mio. I don't think it's available any longer, though most of the contents are in DG's commemorative Fritz Wunderlich box set. The disc consists of unbelieveably crude arrangements of popular German and Italian songs, some with the addition of soupy Holywood chorus, and ranges from Lara's Granada in an incredibly splashy arrangement to Giordani's Caro mio ben, which, in this arrangement, betrays none of its 18th century origins, taking in along the way popular songs like Be my love and German popular classics like Du bist die welt fur mich. I have to say I was enjoying it immensely. Ok. It's not great music, but oh what a voice! And Wunderlich himself sounds as if he is enjoying himself enormously. He communicates such joy in the act of singing, almost as if, having accepted that this is not great music, he can just relax and have fun. And fun is what this disc assuredly is. It never fails to lift my spirits if I am feeling low, so there is a place for it amongst the Verdi and the Wagner, the Mahler and the Bach.
What guilty pleasures do other members have?
I used to like Sarah Brightman singing 'O mio babbino caro'.
I have a few old Mario Lanza LPs that I have been known to listen to occasionally. He had a great operatic tenor voice, which he used to great effect on popular songs and Broadway hits of his time.
Heather
Andreas Scholl's disc of folksongs, "Wayfaring Stranger". They're given the full Hollywood movie score treatment - or at least, a synthetic approximation. The spartan pleasures of the original songs are largely forgotten, replaced by deeply cheesy, James Horner-style shimmering strings. The arrangements are also very awkward. The arranger, whoever it was - possibly Scholl or one of the guys from his pop band - completely runs out of inspiration whenever two or more lines intersect, and the whole thing becomes kind of a cliched, grinding mess.
But...
but...
There's something about Scholl singing this music, combined with occasional moments of excitement from the accompaniment, that gives me an occasional urge to stick it on. And there are campy thrills as Scholl jumps back and forth between shrill alto and blustery baritone to play different parts in one of the songs.
Vanessa-Mae's hip hop version of the D minor Toccata and Fugue. No more irreverent than Stokowski's orchestration. Bach survives all.
(http://photos.imageevent.com/sgtrock/berlin/VM1.jpg)
I like her arrangement of the Scottish folk song Bruch used in his Scottish Fantasy. This CD single includes the Bruch too, live from the Philharmonie.
(http://photos.imageevent.com/sgtrock/berlin/VM2.jpg)
Sarge
Quote from: Mark on June 24, 2007, 01:01:23 PM
I used to like Sarah Brightman singing 'O Mio Bambino Caro'.
Oohhh-that is really, really bad & awful! That little voice - the fake sighs,the fluttering lashes....
(and allow me to correct "bambino in babbino - babbo = father")
O mio babbino caro,
mi piace è bello, bello;
vo'andare in Porta Rossa
a comperar l'anello!
Sì, sì, ci voglio andare!
e se l'amassi indarno,
andrei sul Ponte Vecchio,
ma per buttarmi in Arno!
Mi struggo e mi tormento!
O Dio, vorrei morir!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
Babbo, pietà, pietà!
None of the above ::)
Anything by the Swingle Singers.
T.V.'s "The Simple Life"!
.
(http://blogs.ocregister.com/mangan/schwarzkopf2.jpeg)
.
All of my pleasures are guilty.
Quote from: hornteacher on June 25, 2007, 06:30:49 AM
Anything by the Swingle Singers.
No need to feel guilty about this! ;D
Why would anyone be ashamed to
enjoy a certain piece of music?
Quote from: theowne on June 25, 2007, 05:21:08 PM
Why would anyone be ashamed to
enjoy a certain piece of music?
Well I'm not actually. The title of my post was more than a little ironic. But there are members of this board who get a trifle sniffy if anyone admits to enjoying anything other than Bach, Beethoven and Wagner, let alone pieces of an unashamedly lighter bent.
Quote from: theowne on June 25, 2007, 05:21:08 PM
Why would anyone be ashamed to
enjoy a certain piece of music?
Well, no, not ashamed, but there are many of my favorite pieces I would not play for the unitiated. In the car, during a long trip with my brother and sisters, for example, I wouldn't just pop Carter's Piano Concerto or Zappa's Lumpy Gravy in the CD player, since I don't know how they'd react. Occasionally, I've had people complain (not my sibs, fortuantely) when I put a classical radio station on in the car or at work. That's what I mean when I say all of my pleasures are guilty—if acknowledged in front of the wrong group, they invariably lead to a public shaming.
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on June 26, 2007, 12:54:21 AM
But there are members of this board who get a trifle sniffy if anyone admits to enjoying anything other than Bach, Beethoven and Wagner, let alone pieces of an unashamedly lighter bent.
That's their problem! :->
Right now,
What Am I Listening To, Guilty Pleasure-Wise...Ellington's redoubtable
Cotton Tail, with Ella Fitzgerald scatin' at her light's out best!
(http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/51bQJuA7KiL._AA240_.jpg)(http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/511xZy66fHL._AA240_.jpg)(http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/516MZKS97FL._AA240_.jpg)(http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51pOzMlKaML._AA240_.jpg)(http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HH5C6AJ2L._AA240_.jpg)(http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T3DJAV5XL._AA240_.jpg)
*Their first six efforts. Note original Budokan cover, and it preceeding Heaven Tonight by a smidge. Man, for some reason I just want to find me a boatload of Bazooka Bubblegum and chew away! FWIW, I saw them live on their Dream Police Tour and caught two of Rick's guitar picks!
Oh, and this one:
(http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51b8l9p%2B7qL._AA240_.jpg)
It has a great cover of Day Tripper and was orginally on a 10 inch! Just saw that they threw the tracks from this one onto the All Shook Up cd. I only owned vinyl here, so may have to snag me some used stuff when I see it. FWIW I read that their drummer, Bun E. Carlos did some work with John Lennon in the 80's....
Quote from: Bogey on June 26, 2007, 06:26:26 PM
(http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HH5C6AJ2L._AA240_.jpg)
*Their first six efforts. Note original Budokan cover, and it preceeding Heaven Tonight by a smidge. Man, for some reason I just want to find me a boatload of Bazooka Bubblegum and chew away! FWIW, I saw them live on their Dream Police Tour and caught two of Rick's guitar picks!
Nothing to be guilty about in liking Cheap Trick. ;) I, for example, like
Dream Police in a totally non-ironic way. Despite the strength of
In Color and
Heaven Tonight, I think
Dream Police is their strongest effort. From the eponymous track to "Writing On The Wall" to "Need Your Love," it's one of the better examples of 1970s pop music and probably three times as good as the best of its "successors" today.
Ok, well here's another
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51aCAXvvdKL._SS500_.jpg)
I remember when it first came out, it was reviewed in the pages of Gramophone, where the reviewer was somewhat a loss for words!
Quote from: Tsaraslondon on June 27, 2007, 12:03:02 AM
I remember when it first came out, it was reviewed in the pages of Gramophone, where the reviewer was somewhat a loss for words!
I heard this again recently and thought it was pretty good! (I like it better than most of the "pop" recordings done by classical singers.) I'm very mixed about Streisand: when she's good she's incredible, but when she's not so good it's usually because the songs are not so great and/or the arrangements are bloated beyond belief. But as time has passed since this recording was released (and I recall all the negative comments) it actually might be one of her better efforts. (Not to be confused with thinking that hers are the best versions of these pieces. ;))
--Bruce
Quote from: bhodges on June 27, 2007, 09:43:59 AM
I'm very mixed about Streisand: when she's good she's incredible, but when she's not so good it's usually because the songs are not so great and/or the arrangements are bloated beyond belief.
--Bruce
Especially when people drop the later on your doorstep. ;)
;D
--Bruce
I have the Classical Barbra album. I always liked it, but I thought the selections rather too much the same. Ms. Streisand has a sense of humor, and I would have loved to hear her do some Ives. I can imagine the good time she's have with the two "Memories."
We're sitting in the opera hourse, the opera house, the opera house ...
She'd be perfect.
What an inspired idea, Joe! You should drop her publicist a line, suggesting it. I would never have thought of Ives and Streisand in the same breath, but that could really work quite well.
--Bruce
She's also be fun in "The Circus Band March," "The Greatest Man" and "The Se'er," and she'd probably do a lovely job with softer lyrics like "Children's Hour" and "The Light That Is Felt." But who among her fans would pay to hear Ives? I'm afraid the project wouldn't be commercial enough to suit her. :(
But if you want to contact her people, I'd back you up. ;)
PEOPLE!!! :(
Barry Manilow singing XMass is a guilty pleasure, not Cheap Trick.
Florence Foster Jenkins is a guilty pleasure, not Mario Lanza.
William Shatner is NOT a guilty pleasure, Pat Boone singing metal IS.
If you can recite "The Safety Dance", then you're just guilty.
But did you notice NO ONE picked anything like the stuff we indulge ourselves in everyday. Pettersson, Langgaard...the kinds of things Robert Layton would look down on you for (no attack, just trying to make a point).
I guess I realized what my guilty pleasure is:
GERALD FINZI
His music makes me feel like a little gurl (say it with a German accent...please!). When I was drunk and weeping over lost love I would put on Finzi and cry. It's just...so...pretty,... I f-feel embarassed b-by it's emotions,....ah...ahhhhhh.....
ok, I feel better now. So,... where was I? Oh, yes...someone said "why should you feel guilty?" Well, that just goes to show where we're at today, when good old fashioned shame has been turned on its heel into some kind of glory. But then, did anyone reallly find anything embarassing about what the previous posters offered?
How can you NOT like "Surrender" by Cheap Trick, one of the greatest anthems...of all time (cue Ali)? If you had said "You're the Inspiration" by 1980s Chicago...ok, that I understand. THAT's embarassing.
I always said Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly were guilty pleasures, but no,...THEY were guilty pleasures, but me liking them was simply me acknowledging that there was no other more over the top (next to Zappa) example of the decadence of the times.
For the same reason I LOVE really really cheezy 70s exploitation flicks like DOLEMITE!...not because of the movie, but because of the COLLARS!!! Who here is guilty? (me ;)) cause you was all some stupid lookin folks back then, sucka!
Is PLAN NINE FROM OUTER SPACE a guilty pleasure? NO...it is a document of the times, and one came gleam great amounts of sociological insight into different recent eras by their cheapy cheap cheaps.
However, any grown man with a crush on Kelly Clarkson should feel guilty....oh,... did I say that out loud? :-*
If I said my favorite song was "You Spin Me Right Round" (uh, the ORIGINAL)...THAT would be a guilty pleasure (apparently it's been redone as a "tough" song that all the "tough" kids like, ah if they only knew...but then..."I HAVE your children").
No, I like all the right stuff. I did my research, threw out the trash...I have nothing to feel guilty for (musically...as far as this thread is concerned...whew, I'm getting defensive).
COME ON PEOPLE. LET'S FIND SOME REAL GUILT OUT THERE!!!
Porno Quartets count.
Quote from: snyprrr on May 03, 2009, 08:25:25 PM
I always said Vanilla Fudge and Iron Butterfly were guilty pleasures, but no,...THEY were guilty pleasures,
I still love the Fudge!
When I think of musical guilty pleasures, I think of something like Saint-Saens' 3rd symphony: yeah, at times it's about as subtle as a thermonuclear explosion but when I hear a performance like the BSO/Munch, who cares?
Very glad that you like Finzi... He's my favourite of the 20th century English minor masters. Something very honest and good about his music as well as it being about as 'pretty' and beautiful as English music got.
I love the 1812 overture.
Quote from: imperfection on May 04, 2009, 05:37:13 PM
I love the 1812 overture.
Me too, but I don't count that as a guilty pleasure.
My guilty pleasure is West Side Story's "I feel pretty".
Quote from: ' on May 04, 2009, 02:56:41 PM
I think of guilty pleasures as the music you turn off when the phone rings.
That's funny ;)!
Oops!...someone left the cake out in the rain...
i'm guilty of finding great pleasure in madonna singing 'hanky panky'. ;D
dj
I don't have any guilty pleasures, I'm proud of everything I like. Why should I feel guilty? Because it doesn't match up to what someone else says is good, and I have to please them? Why should I care?
I have a guilty pleasure in trashing silly country western music, and jazz. And I am definitely guilty, for I cannot stand either and avoid them in every sense, and I trash them at any opportunity When I hear them being played, I take great pleasure in running the listener down for listening to such nonsense, ESPECIALLY country western. >:D
Quote from: John on January 26, 2011, 01:46:04 PM
I have a guilty pleasure in trashing silly country western music, and jazz. And I am definitely guilty, for I cannot stand either and avoid them in every sense, and I trash them at any opportunity When I hear them being played, I take great pleasure in running the listener down for listening to such nonsense, ESPECIALLY country western. >:D
I did not read this....I did not read this....I did not read this....if I keep telling myself this, I won't leave a comment that will not only upset the moderators, but you and all of mankind in the process. :P
Quote from: Mirror Image on January 26, 2011, 02:10:32 PM
I did not read this....I did not read this....I did not read this....if I keep telling myself this, I won't leave a comment that will not only upset the moderators, but you and all of mankind in the process. :P
The "country" (assuming it's popular country played on the radio) part is understandable, but Jazz...? ???
Yes Jazz too.
I am very sorry about it, but I even wrestle with listening to classical music which has been 'influenced' by Jazz, which in the most part are good, but I believe Jazz should be Jazz for Jazzers. I am not (by far) a jazzer. Classical Music should influence Jazz, not the other way round.
I would shake hands profoundly with Bruno Walter if I could. He felt the same.
:-*
I feel guilty listening to Scriabin - most of his music is all ecstasy and feel i should not enjoy this but i do :o
Quote from: Greg on January 26, 2011, 02:23:08 PM
The "country" (assuming it's popular country played on the radio) part is understandable, but Jazz...? ???
Well I was referring to jazz. I hate country music.
Listening to the local fund raiser on the public classical radio station. Don't know why, but I enjoy these.
Also,
My wife and I enjoy turning on a Rick Steves' episode, going to do something else, but turning it up loud enough just to hear him discuss traveling through Europe.
(http://media.canada.com/ec39df83-fe4a-4b86-8cf9-8fbd0bc59e03/ricksteves.jpg)
[asin]B0002YCVXI[/asin]
This is so schmaltzy that I find it irresistible. But schmaltz it is.
This one too, for the same reason. High quality orchestral arrangements that are so lush as to be irreligious!
[asin]B00000K2W9[/asin]
http://www.amazon.com/Heigh-Ho-Mozart-Donald-Fraser-Composer/dp/B000000709/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308665851&sr=8-1
this is an astonishing album - it's on spotify for anyone who has access to that. I mean really astonishing.
Quote from: Guido on June 21, 2011, 06:31:06 AM
http://www.amazon.com/Heigh-Ho-Mozart-Donald-Fraser-Composer/dp/B000000709/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308665851&sr=8-1
this is an astonishing album - it's on spotify for anyone who has access to that. I mean really astonishing.
I listened to the Amazon excerpts. That's some clever pastiche! Btw, there's a Dave Brubeck album of jazz versions of classic Disney tunes.
Quote from: Grazioso on June 21, 2011, 10:04:12 AM
I listened to the Amazon excerpts. That's some clever pastiche! Btw, there's a Dave Brubeck album of jazz versions of classic Disney tunes.
Yes it's called
Dave Digs Disney and it's actually a pretty damn good album! :) Nothing guilty about liking this one:
[asin]B0012GMYDC[/asin]
Quote from: snyprrr on May 03, 2009, 08:25:25 PM
Florence Foster Jenkins is a guilty pleasure, not Mario Lanza.
Jenkins sure is guilty, but very far from pleasure >:(
I can't really say I have any musical guilty pleasures - I mostly listen to classical and jazz, sometimes Deep Purple, Rainbow, Black Sabbath (with Dio), Queen, Jimi Hendrix, etc - but those hardly qualify as guilty pleasures. Chopin's major key waltzes are more guilty than that.